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Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Nick Starkel (17) throws a pass during the first quarter of a Texas A&M University Maroon and White scrimmage football game on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News)

Texas A&M's Nick Starkel was in the Rose Bowl's X-ray room last September when he received the news that changed his entire year.

The then-redshirt freshman quarterback was told he just broke his ankle in the Aggies' season opener against UCLA. Hours after Starkel made his first collegiate start, he was suddenly facing surgery for an injury that could potentially cost him the entire 2017 season.

It ended up being a blessing in disguise for the former Argyle Liberty Christian standout. In an extended interview released Tuesday, Starkel said he started to shape his identity around his faith after the injury.

So when Starkel received the news that he lost the starting quarterback job to sophomore Kellen Mond, he was better prepared to handle the situation because of what happened to him last year in Los Angeles.

"It didn't hit me as hard," Starkel said on a podcast hosted by former A&M player Justin Dunning. "As a competitor and as a football player, it killed me. But as a human and who I am, it was like, 'Alright, I'll brush it off and I'm going to use it as something that drives me.'"

Starkel's appearance on "The Justin Dunning Podcast" was his first notable media appearance since he met with local reporters on Aug. 28. This season, Starkel played in A&M's first four games as a reserve.

After Starkel suffered the injury in the second half of A&M's 45-44 loss to UCLA, he didn't play in the Aggies' next six games. While he recovered from the injury, Starkel told Dunning he found his identity in his faith.

Starkel replaced Mond as the starter for the final four games of the season and threw for 499 yards in A&M's Belk Bowl loss to Wake Forest, the second highest single-game total in school history. Starkel finished the year with a .600 completion percentage, 1,793 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.

When new A&M coach Jimbo Fisher told Starkel that Mond won the quarterback competition at the end of the preseason, he was ready for the news because of the personal growth he made in the wake of his ankle injury.

"I think this year, it made it to where, when I got the news, 'Hey, Kellen's going to be the starter,' it didn't shake my identity like that injury did," Starkel said on the podcast.

It's unclear what Starkel's long-term future holds. After this season, he'll have two years to complete his final two seasons of eligibility.

But no matter what happens between now and then, he will always remember a couple of life-changing events during his first three years at A&M.

"I'll never forget that day that I found out that I wasn't the starter anymore," Starkel said.